Every time I slip on a rain jacket, I give thanks that we no longer have to wrap ourselves in thick, smelly sealskin to stay dry. The best rain jackets today are more comfortable and watertight than ever, thanks to advances in weatherproof textiles and apparel design. But depending on the climate and your level of activity, sorting through different styles, technologies, and waterproof ratings can be confusing.
Every year, I test dozens of rain jackets through the soggy Pacific Northwest winter. I hike, bike, run, and walk my dogs—sometimes I even stand in the shower with my clothes on when the weather isn’t cooperating. I also got advice from Amber Williams, a professor at Brigham Young University who has been an expert on outdoor product design. All to find the rain jackets worth your time and money.
Updated November 2025: We added the Arc’teryx Beta SL, the Lolë Piper 2.0, the Páramo Velez Adventure Smock, the Helly Hansen utility rain coat, the North Face Antora, the North Face Mountain Parka, the Finisterre Stormbird, and the Rab Firewall Alpine and Phantom.
Best Overall
Photograph: Adrienne So
Every year, I try to find another jacket that beats the Arc’teryx Beta SL for roominess and dryness, and it’s just impossible. Despite its extravagant price, this is the jacket that I always end up reaching for when an atmospheric river starts pouring through Portland. This is Arc’teryx’s lightest rain shell. It has Gore-Tex’s latest fabric innovation, called ePE (expanded polyethylene)—it’s a breathable, waterproof membrane laminated to a nylon face that’s also free of carcinogenic perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and has a hydrostatic head (HH) rating of 28,000, which is pretty incredible (the standard is around 10,000). When it comes to rainwear, I sacrifice sustainability in favor of not getting wet—being cold and wet really sucks and could be life-threatening in the wrong situation. But this jacket has kept me dry through the bugging-est out, sideways-pouring rain.
Features-wise, the hood is big enough for my hair (or a helmet, if your hair is smaller than my hair), with adjustable cuffs and pit zips (very important for activity!). And unlike many other jackets, the women’s version has plenty of space for my shoulders and arms to move freely for biking, hiking, and moving heavy objects. If you’re only getting one rain jacket, it should be this one.
Best Rain Jacket for Women
Photograph: Adrienne So
Photograph: Adrienne So
I love this rain jacket. I was walking in the city with my friend (in the rain) when a truck suddenly went through a puddle right next to us on the road and covered me head to toe, Sex and the City-style. This jacket kept me dry. Its waterproofing specs are average—it uses a carbon-based, durable water repellent and has a HH rating of 10K, which is about half the waterproofing of what some of our other picks have—but I really like its design features.
I’m 5’2″ and it’s long enough to cover my shins. You can button the cuffs to prevent water from running down the sleeves. It has multiple (huge) pockets for all your random walking-around needs, with both zippered and open options. The fit is incredibly loose for layering—why don’t more outdoor brands do this? I’m very small on the bell curve of humanity, but I shouldn’t need to size up to men’s medium to get a size loose enough for layering! Most importantly, it packs up into its own small, self-contained backpack with straps so you can hang it on a wall when you get to the party instead of leaving a giant, soaking garment to hang from a hook and drip all over everything.
★ Alternative: If you’re not trying to stay dry for hours while outside and you also like a feature-rich rain jacket with big pockets, I like the Helly Hansen utility rain coat ($200), which also covers a lot of your body and has a lot of pocket options.
Best Rubber Rain Jacket
Photograph: Adrienne So
Since the 1960s, modern rainwear has relied on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals”, to waterproof clothing. Modern durable water repellents (DWRs) use PFAS in manufacturing, which then migrate from your clothing into soil and streams as you tromp around outside. Today, many companies are reducing the levels of PFAS in their products, probably because states are banning these chemicals.
The best way to make sure you don’t have PFAS in your coat is to go with a classic rubber raincoat, like Stutterheim’s Stockholm raincoat. Technical rain jacket manufacturers tend to shy away from polyurethane because it’s, well, rubbery. But the material is durable, long-lasting, windproof, waterproof, and PFAS-free. I also prefer rubber rain jackets in damp coastal climates, like the Pacific Northwest. Breathability is less of a sticking point when the air is already humid.
I first encountered the ideas of ultralight backpacking in 1994, in an article in now-defunct (and much-missed) Backpacker magazine. It was titled “Less is More,” by Mark Jenkins. (I still have a PDF copy I scanned years ago.) Jenkins wrote about a long trip across Europe and Africa. By the end, he and his traveling partner shed all the gear they thought they needed, save what they were wearing, their down jackets, and some spoons.
While I had no desire to have all my gear stolen as Jenkins does as at one point in Africa, the idea of carrying less to travel farther, faster, and lighter, struck a chord. Not just with me, but with loads of other people. Jenkins’ article is widely credited with starting the ultralight backpacking movement.
At the time, there wasn’t much lightweight gear available. Much of the early ultralight movement was driven by a DIY ethos. I built my own alcohol stoves out of discarded tuna cans, made pot cozies out of Reflectix, and fashioned windscreens from heavy aluminum foil. As a result, my cook kit weight dropped by 14 ounces.
Today, ultralight backpackers are more common than traditionalists, at least judging from the people I meet on the trail. But exactly what is ultralight backpacking? And how do you shed all that weight without giving up the comfort?
Ultralight Backpacking, Defined
For the sake of all being on the same page, I will define “ultralight” backpacking as a base weight of 10 pounds or less. That means all your gear, minus what you’re wearing on the trail, minus consumables (primarily food), weighs at most 10 pounds.
If that sounds daunting, consider that there are some who travel under the moniker “super ultralight” who shoot for a base weight of 5 pounds or less. At the other end, there is what I would call lightweight, which would be 15 pounds or less. I have never attempted a super-ultralight trip, but I have spent more than a decade with a base weight of 10 pounds and have never felt like I was doing without or suffering in any way. Quite the opposite. It’s a revelation, and you’ll never want to go back.
Now that we have our terms defined, how does one get to an ultralight base weight of 10 pounds or less?
Before we get into details of gear, know that the most important thing you can do to make your pack weigh less is to bring less stuff. For most people the biggest gains (er, losses) will be in what you don’t bring rather than what you do.
When you’re considering what to bring, make sure you need it rather than just wanting it. I love making coffee on a moka pot but not enough to lug one into the backcountry. I don’t need it, so I leave it at home and make Turkish coffee on the trail. Go through everything you ever bring on the trail and honestly ask yourself: Is this something I need?
There are a ton of tiny stoves out there. Here are a couple of stoves I like, but don’t make the top picks for one reason or another. They’re still fine stoves, and might be a great choice for your next backpacking trip.
Primus
Essential Trail Stove
This little stove works very well. The pot supports are shorter than our top pick, meaning it’s best with 500ml or smaller pots, but it’s plenty powerful and held up well in the wind during my testing.
Snow Peak
GigaPower Stove
The GigaPower stove is possibly the only thing Snow Peak makes that I don’t love. It’s a fine stove, and the price is reasonable, but there’s nothing that makes it better than any of the stoves above. It’s a little heavy for what it is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Type of Stove Is Best for Backpacking?
Canister? Alcohol? Traditional white gas? There’s a wealth of options out there, so which one is The Best™? The answer is that it depends on where you’re going (altitude, weather, burn bans, etc), what you’re cooking, and how long you’re backpacking. Thru-hikers have a different set of needs than those of us who only get in a few weekends and maybe one 10-day trip a year. That said, our top pick is a great choice for both thru-hiking and weekend warriors. I love alcohol stoves for their silence and simplicity, but burn bans sometimes mean they’re not permitted. When in doubt, a lightweight canister stove setup is your best bet. The exception is cold weather. Inverted canister stoves do better in cold, but personally, I rely on white gas any time I think the temps will dip below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
What’s the Best Stove for Actually Cooking?
Definitely the Firebox Nano paired with the gas burner and diffuser plate. There’s a weight penalty for all that, though. The titanium version is 8.5 ounces, but it cooks like a Coleman camp stove thanks to that diffuser plate. As noted above, it is possible to heat a 10-inch pan out to the edges, something no other backpacking stove has pulled off in my tests.
If you don’t want to carry that much weight, the MSR PocketRocket Deluxe offers the best flame control, though there is no way to spread out the flame and evenly heat your pans. Note that aluminum pans heat more evenly than titanium (and they’re much cheaper), so pairing the PocketRocket Deluxe with an aluminum pan will give you the best results in my experience.
All that said, be honest with yourself about cooking in the backcountry. I enjoy it, and I do do it, but I only do it when it makes sense. If you’re trying to cover 20-30 miles a day, cooking a complex meal isn’t what you want to do at the start and end of every day. For those trips, keep it simple, keep it light.
How Much Should My Stove Weigh?
As little as possible while still being functional. Seriously, it depends on what you want to do. If you’re solo and you just want enough water to rehydrate a pouch of food you can get by with something around an ounce or two. If you want to cook up a proper meal for tired children, it might be worth carrying a little extra weight.
Should You Buy a Stove System?
That’s up to you. They do often make life on the trail easier, thanks to the way most stove-pot combo systems click together and pack down nice and small. But if you’re looking to go ultralight and cut weight as much as possible, the answer is definitely no. A small, lightweight pot with either the MSR PocketRocket Deluxe or BRS 3000 and a DIY foil windscreen weighs less than any integrated stove system I’ve tested. Pro tip: make your own lightweight pot lid out of some heavy duty foil to save even more weight.
Why Don’t You List Boil Times?
Because fast boil times are a silly number made up by the industry so that it would have something to compare and brag about. The time it takes to boil water depends on factors no one can control in the real world, including starting water temp, ambient air temp, altitude, wind, and more. Even if you control for all of those factors to try to abstract out a number, it won’t tell you anything because some stoves are better than others in the wind, so you can’t extrapolate anything about their performance in still air that will map to their performance in wind. All of which makes boil times a completely useless number.
What Backpacking Stove Do You Use?
I own several stoves, but honestly, usually I am cooking on whatever I am testing for this guide. On the rare occasions I don’t have a new stove to test … it depends. For solo trips covering good distances I use the top pick, the MSR PocketRocket Deluxe. When I’m bikepacking or backpacking with my kids, I use the Firebox Freestyle stove split into two units, one with a Trangia spirit burner and one with the gas burner. Dividing all that up between 4 people keeps the weight reasonable (total weight for this setup is 26 ounces) and effectively gives me a 2-burner stove and a twig fire, which is nice when you don’t know what you’ll be able to buy when resupplying on the trail. In cold weather, I rely on an MSR WhisperLite International that I’ve had for almost three decades. I kind of hate it, but it’s reliable.
Tips and Tricks
Once you have a stove, get familiar with it. Canister stoves are pretty simple. Screw on the canister, turn the knob, and light. However, other stoves, especially liquid fuel stoves, require a little practice to really get it dialed in.
I went outside and made coffee on these stoves every morning for months, playing with variables like simmer controls, canister position, different fuels, windscreens, and more in all kinds of conditions. Even though I’ll never actually make coffee in a moka pot on the trail, the experience with each stove means I know how each stove behaves under different conditions. Do something similar until you’re familiar with how to control the flame, how to maximize fuel efficiency, and what to do when the wind blows. Here are some other things I’ve learned over the years about using backcountry stoves:
Boiling water doesn’t mean a rolling boil: Unless you’re trying to sterilize water, you don’t need to get to a full rolling boil to rehydrate a meal and doing so is a waste of fuel. I usually shut the stove off when bubbles are just starting to form on the bottom of my pot. This is plenty hot enough to rehydrate freeze-dried or dehydrated meals.
High is not max efficiency: I hate the noise of canister and pressurized white gas so I’ve never had this problem, but many people I’ve camped with seem to think the burner should always be on high. This is usually a waste of energy (the BRS 3000T is an exception, it really pretty much does need to be high). This is where experimenting and learning how your stove works helps. Time how long it takes to boil water at different burn levels and use the lowest setting that still effectively boils your water.
Remember the weight and volume are not the same: I know, it has been forever since I had high school chemistry too, but remember that weight and volume are different despite the fact that both are often listed in the abbreviation oz. One fluid ounce of alcohol does not weigh one ounce (it weighs .8 ounces). One fluid ounce of white gas also does not weigh one ounce (it’s about .75 ounces). This is important when you’re trying to work out the weight of canisters and fuel bottles.
Your cooking pot matters: The size and shape of your cookware matters—some boil faster than others on different stoves. Check out this in depth YouTube rundown of different stove and pot combos to see what I mean, but one takeaway is that again, this is something worth testing with your stove.
Isn’t it amazing how fast summer goes by? The kids are back in school, and it’s time for the annual REI Labor Day Sale. This year’s event kicks off today, August 22, and ends on Labor Day, September 2. Many items are up to 30 percent off, and REI Co-op members save 20 percent on any REI Outlet item. To get the member discount, add the promo code LABORDAY2025 at checkout.
We’ve rounded up the best deals on all our favorite tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, pads, cookware, outdoor apparel, and more. Many of the best REI deals are on the company’s house brand gear, but we’ve also pulled in deals from competing sales at Backcountry, Public Lands, and cottage industry retailers.
Updated Monday, August 25, 2025: We’ve added new end of summer deals on Bote paddleboards, Oru folding kayaks, Arc’teryx Beta raingear, Kelty love seat, the Big Agnes Copper Spur Tent, Nemo Dragonfly tent, Sea to Summit ultralight cookware, and more.
REI’s Base Camp tent is WIRED’s favorite car camping tent. It’s extremely well designed and proved plenty weatherproof in our testing. The traditional dome tent design, with two crossed poles and two side poles, holds up well in wind, and the tent floor is high-quality 150-denier (150D) polyester. There’s loads of storage pockets, double doors, great vents, and huge windows, making it comfortable even in summer heat.
The Wonderland 6 is REI’s replacement for the Kingdom 6 and looks to be, for the most part, very similar. We haven’t tested this one, but my almost 20-year-old Kingdom 6 is still going strong. For the most part, it’s made of the very same ripstop nylon used in the Wonderland. With plenty of mesh, this will have better ventilation than the Base Camp above, but the rainfly doesn’t come as low and the hoop design isn’t quite a strong. For summer camping, though, this is a great option.
The REI Half Dome 2 is the best budget two-person backpacking tent. We’ve toted it on many a backpacking trip and found it to be plenty sturdy, quick to set up, and capable of fitting two people and their gear. It even comes with a footprint (which I never bother with, but it’s nice to have it if you have to deal with prickers or pointy rocks). I really like the color options this year too, which blend in with its surroundings rather than stand out.
The Big Agnes Copper Spur series is our top pick for freestanding ultralight tents. This is a high-quality, well-designed tent that’s lightweight, easy to set up, and roomy enough to be liveable in the backcountry. The “awning” design (with trekking poles or sticks) is a nice extra and the mix of 15D nylon, and 20D ripstop, while to feels fragile, as held up well over time.
I’ve only spent two nights in this tent, but so far it’s my favorite solo freestanding tent. I like the generous amount of mesh at the top, which provides some nice ventilation on warm summer nights and is perfect for falling asleep under the stars when the weather permits. The Osmo fabric continues to live up to the hype, with much less water absorption than nylon tents in rainy weather, and there’s a good amount of room for storing all your stuff. The bikepacking friendly version, with shorter pole segments that fit better on a bike, is also on sale for $390 ($130 off).
Deals on Day-Hiking Packs and Backpacks
Be sure to read through our guide to day-hiking packs. While we haven’t published our guide to ultralight backpacks yet, several of our picks are on sale right now and noted below.
Photography: Scott Gilbertson
I just started testing this pack this summer as part of an upcoming ultralight backpack guide. It’s very comfortable, carrying a 25-pound load without issue. I haven’t lived out of it for more than a night yet, but so far I like it, and it’s very reasonably priced. Interestingly, there’s a comment on REI saying that you’re better off going with the Flash 55 and just removing the top lid to save some weight. That’ll save you some cash right now, as the Flash 55 is also on sale for $139 ($50 off).
Nemo’s Resolve is a great pack that incorporates a low-waste footprint into the design. It uses solution-dyed fabrics, and eschews straps and buckles in favor of bungees and pull-tabs. This does make adjusting it fussier, but once you’re used to it and have the fit dialed in, it’s not an issue. The Resolve is a comfortable pack. While technically frameless, it feels like it has some structure. and it sits nice and high on your back. At 1 pound, 15 ounces, it’s also pretty light.
The Osprey Talon is perhaps the most tried-and-true day-hiking pack on the market, and for good reason. It’s light and comfortable, and the 33L capacity can swallow a ton of gear and haul it well. This 33L iteration weighs just 2 pounds, 12.5 ounces and sports 100D high-tenacity nylon that’s been coated with a non-PFAS DWR. Annoyingly, there’s no rain cover, but that omission aside, it’s a superb daypack.
Whether you need a cheap car camping bag, or something more robust for fall and spring trips, we’ve got you covered. Be sure to read our best sleeping bags guide for even more options.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
REI’s Magma line of down gear are some of the best deals around. The Magma 15 sleeping bag has long been an affordable bag that’s perfect for shoulder season trips when the temp potentially swing lower than you’re expecting (the comfort rating is 21 F). There’s three lengths and three widths, making it easy to get something that’s perfect for your body, and the 850-fill-power goose down (bluesign-approved) packs down nice and small. If you don’t need the shoulder season coverage the Magma 30 is also on sale for $262 ($87 off), and makes a great summer sleeping bag.
I’ve just started testing this as a budget option for ultralight quilts. So far, I’ve been impressed. Like the sleeping bag version above, this is 95 percent of what you get from far more expensive bags. It’s light (20.3 ounces for the medium), packs down small, includes straps to keep it on your sleeping pad, can be completely unzipped and used like a comforter, or snapped up in a proper footbox on colder nights.
The Boost is a hybrid bag that would work for backpacking, but it can also be adjusted to a semi-retangular shape to make it more comfortable for car camping. There are arm holes, which makes reading in it a bit easier, and you can reach out to open or close the “WarmZip” center zipper, which cinches down the Boost to make it more like a traditional mummy bag.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
The “mummy” design of mummy bags is about optimizing for warmth, not comfort. But let’s face it, most of us are not sleeping in situations where our survival is at stake. Therm-a-Rest has addressed this with what it calls W.A.R.M. fit, which stands for “with additional room for multiple” positions. Indeed, this bag is very roomy for a mummy design. I was able to draw my legs up when side-sleeping and spread out considerably more than with most bags. If you toss and turn through the nights and don’t want a quilt-style bag, this would be my top pick.
The Siesta is our favorite sleeping bag for car camping. You really shouldn’t need to spend a lot of money on a sleeping bag for car camping. Should your best efforts to cocoon warmth around you fail, there is, after all, a car to retreat to. That’s why we love the REI Siesta Hooded 20—it’s plenty warm and affordable. The Siesta’s rectangular cut makes it a roomier, more comfortable bag, and the 20-degree rating makes it enough for three-season trips, and unlike most rectangular bags, the Siesta has a hood, which helps on those cold nights. We also like that you can zip two Siestas together.
The NeoLoft is on the heavy side for someone who is mostly on the ultralight bandwagon, but I can’t seem to leave this pad at home. It’s just too comfortable. I’ve ended up carrying it on every trip I took this summer. It does weigh 25 ounces, but it packs down respectably small (about an inch thicker and taller than a Nalgene water bottle), and inflates to a massive 4.6-inch cushy pad that looks more like a luxury car-camping pad than something for the backcountry. I highly recommended it.
This is our favorite all-around backpacking sleeping pad. The Tensor All-Season hits all the sweet spots. It weighs an acceptably light 18.2 ounces, provides a good 3 inches of padding, and has an R rating of 5.4. That works out to the best padding and R rating for the weight. It’s also mercifully quiet—none of that annoying crunching noise every time you roll over.
If you’re gearing up for a winter trip, this is a good deal on a great winter sleeping pad. The Tensor Extreme Conditions has the highest R value of any pad we’ve tested, yet somehow manages to pack down to about the size of a Nalgene water bottle and weighs just 21 ounces (587 g). It’s one thing to claim an R value in lab tests though—a subzero night on the snow in a Wisconsin winter was the real test. This pad performed extremely well. Paired with a Z-Rest (see below) and a –10F sleeping bag, it kept me toasty down to 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Photograph: Thermarest
The Z-Lite Sol weighs next to nothing (10 ounces for the small), folds up small enough to lash to the outside of any pack, and can double as a chair, extra padding on cold nights, table, you name it. I am too old and too soft to be the sort of ultra-minimalist who gets by with just a Z-Lite for sleeping, but I still have one around on almost every backpacking trip I take.
The big fat camping pad that started the trend of big fat camping pads, the Megamat is a revelation. Trust me, you have no idea how comfortable tent camping can be until you sleep on a Megamat (or a MondoKing, see below). The 4-inch-thick Exped MegaMat is soft and surprisingly firm thanks to the closed-cell foam inside it, which relieves pressure and feels about as close to the mattress in your bedroom as you’re going to get in the woods.
When I sold my Jeep I had to give up my overlanding dreams and return to being a mere camper, but this Megamat, which cuts in to fit around the wheel wells of an SUV, has brought some of those overlanding dreams back to life. I throw this in the back of my wife’s Rav4, and while it’s not a perfect fit (check Exped to see which vehicles are supported), it’s close enough that I can get a good night’s sleep in the car.
If you get a Megamat, get this pump to go with it. I love this pump not so much for the inflating (though that is nice too, it speeds things up), but for the deflating. You can get all the air out and the mattress back in its stuff sack in no time with this thing. It’s well worth the money, especially on sale.
REI sales are the time to grab this upgrade stove. Sure, the basic version below gets the job done, but the cast iron burners of the Cascade are so much nicer and more durable. The griddle plate is also handy, perfect for cranking out pancakes. My only gripe is that I wish there were an option to get two griddles, as I find the grill not nearly as useful.
Walk around any campground in America and you’ll likely see dozens of these, for good reason. They’re easy to use, last a long time, and aren’t all that expensive. The 10,000-BTU burners are plenty to cook on just about any pan you have (I use cast iron pans on mine), and the electronic ignition means you don’t have to keep track of a lighter.
The MSR PocketRocket 2 is our top pick isopro backpacking stove for most people. It’s lightweight (2.6 ounces) but has wide enough arms to support just about any one- or two-person pot. It’s simple to use, even while wearing gloves, and it’s efficient—at sea level (OK, technically 947 feet), it boiled 1 liter of water in 3 minutes, 47 seconds. You can even get it to simmer, though the flame radius is small, so fancier cooking isn’t easy. See our next pick if that’s your goal.
If you want to cook in the backcountry, like legitimately cook with ingredients, not rehydrating food, the best stove I’ve tested is the Firebox Nano with the gas burner and diffusion plate. The Firebox Nano is a twig stove, so you have that option as well (I am fortunate to live somewhere I can use this feature), but with summer burn bans in many places, it’s really the gas burner and diffusion plate that are the centerpiece here. Together, they spread out the flame enough that cooking on a 10-inch pan is pretty much like cooking on my stove at home. This is a nearly miraculous achievement for a stove setup this small and light (8 ounces).
This is a backpacking must-have for me. It turns cleanup from a tedious chore to a couple of seconds’ work. I’ve even perfected cleaning burnt pans with it: Boil water in the pan to loosen the burnt bits and scrape them out. It’s not a massive savings, but you might as well grab one while it’s a couple bucks cheaper.
The word “ultralight” means different things to different people, and this pot may or may not qualify for you, but if you’re cooking for a group, this 3-liter pot is about as light as it gets. This is my go-to pot for family backpacking trips. The hard-anodized aluminum is sturdy and provides good heat transfer. The ceramic nonstick coating makes for easy cleanup (especially paired with the GSI scraper below). You can also nest the 2L version ($51) inside this one for more cooking options on the trail. If you want to go nuts with it, I haven’t tried it, but you can theoretically also nest the 1.3L version ($45) inside the 2L.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
If you want to bring a chair backpacking, this is the one to get. It’s just about the lightest on the market at 18 ounces, and it packs down nice and small. Nemo also solved the main problem with all pole chairs: The included base pad keeps it from sinking in soft ground.
The thing to keep in mind when you shop REI brand gear is the company’s basic proposition: you get 90 percent of the designer item, for 70 percent of the price. It’s a strategy that works quite well and has generated some really great, affordable gear. This chair is a good example of that. It’s not as nice as the Nemo above, but it’s still comfortable (it does wobble a little, side to side when you move) and nearly half the price.
This camp chair is the coziest way to hang out around the fire. It is somewhat huge, heavy, and awkward to fold up and carry, but so long as you have room for it in your vehicle, there’s no better way to relax under the stars with your loved ones.
Patagonia’s Nano Puff series has been a hit since it launched years ago. If you want a technical midlayer that you can also wear around town, this is the jacket to get. The fill is synthetic, but it’s impressively warm and manages to stuff down almost like a down jacket.
REI’s Sahara Shade Hoodie offers UPF 50+ fabric (a polyester and spandex blend) to protect you from that high-altitude sun (or any sun). It’s soft and stretchy, so you have a good range of movement, and there are thumbholes in the sleeves to keep them from riding up and exposing your arms. The three-panel hood has a drawstring you can use the cinch it down and keep your neck covered as well.
The best budget rain jacket you can buy, REI’s Rainier Jacket is impressively waterproof and reasonably long-lasting for $70. The durable water repellent (DWR) is PFAS-free, but still pretty good. You also get taped seams and an adjustable hood, two nice features you generally don’t find in jackets this cheap.
Photograph: Darn Tough; Getty Images
You can’t go wrong with a pair of Darn Tough merino wool socks. There’s a bunch of styles and colors to choose from, but remember to go with more merino than not if you’re hoping to get several days out of them. Anything over 30 percent nylon starts to smell quickly in my testing.
The awesome wool shirt from Fjällräven is about as northwoods as it gets. It’s also nice and warm and soft, at least on the inside; my kids do not like the outside.
Arc’teryx’s Beta AR rain jacket is one of the burliest rain jackets I’ve tested. The Beta AR uses 40D fabric for most of the face, with reinforced 80D patches in high wear areas, all of it with Gore-Tex Pro 3L membrane. It’s been the only Gore-Tex jacket I’ve tested that hasn’t wetted out yet, and the pit zips provide excellent ventilation. At 1 lb. 0.3 oz. it’s not the lightest jacket out there, but you’d be hard pressed to find anything else this durable at this weight.
Paddleboard and Kayak Deals
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
This is my favorite paddleboard for lazy days at the lake. The LowRider Aero is large and stable, making it great for beginners. It’s surprisingly nimble and easy to steer too, with very good tracking ability. I also love the two-in-one kayak/SUP hybrid design, which means you can turn it into a full fishing rig with Bote’s various add-ons.
Oru’s foldable kayaks are genius—all the boat, none of the size. The Lake is light, reasonably fast, and the cheapest way to get into the world of folding kayaks. As with all Oru’s offerings, the Lake folds origami-style into a roughly 30-inch square that’s just 15 inches deep—small enough to fit in a car trunk or hall closet.
If eyes are windows to the soul, then the eyes in William Stoehr’s paintings convey the isolation and despair that come with addiction and depression. They are lonely and haunting, especially in one of the pieces he painted of his late sister.
Her eyes are dark and sunken. Perhaps she has been crying. In the bottom left corner, Stoehr etched the words: DAD CALLED EMMA OD’d HER SOUL IS AT REST.
Stoehr and his wife, Mary Kay, used to help people find their way with topographical maps. They are the couple who built Trails Illustrated — a company revered by serious hikers, backpackers and outdoor enthusiasts — into a must-have standard. But over the past two decades, Stoehr laid out a second-act career as an artist and self-professed mental health activist, seeking to lead viewers into an empathetic understanding of mental health and the stigma of addiction that inhibits diagnosis, treatment and recovery.
All of his pieces depict abstract faces that fill large canvases, usually measuring 5 feet by 7 feet. He starts with the eyes but says viewers finish the work in their minds, creating what he calls “a greater reality.” He says neuroscience backs that up.
“I put the tools there for you to create the painting,” Stoehr explained in his studio at the couple’s home in Boulder. “You pick up on the part of the face you identify with, and you create the narrative. I lose control of the painting the minute it’s seen by someone else. They reinterpret it, based on how they feel at that moment or what their life experiences are. People stand before my paintings and cry. It’s bringing back some memories deep inside.”
In another painting of Emma (not his sister’s real name), her face is dark black. Barely visible eyes are the only facial features the viewer sees. It’s the painting he promised her he would create if she agreed to go into rehab. She went — her third round of treatment — and was sober for five years until she died from an overdose of prescription pain medication.
“This painting, people just break down and cry,” Stoehr said. “That’s a seven-foot painting, just black spots and two eyes. People say, ‘You captured exactly how I feel,’ or, ‘This is what depression feels like.’”
The Trails Illustrated years
Stoehr, who most people call Bill, and Mary Kay grew up in Wisconsin and met in a lunch line while attending the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She became a teacher and he went into industrial engineering after graduation.
But they had always wanted to live in the West, so they moved to Colorado in 1982. Two years later, Bill severely broke his leg while skiing, leaving him desperate for something physical to do during his recovery. His doctor said he could ride a bike, so they took up mountain biking, which was just becoming a thing. Stoehr discovered there weren’t any good guidebooks for mountain biking on the Front Range, so he wrote two.
Looking to duplicate a map for one of his books in 1985, Stoehr went to see Kaaren Hardenbrook, who owned Trails Illustrated at the time. One bedroom of her Littleton home was devoted to cartography and sales, Stoehr discovered, while the garage was for inventory and shipping. During their meeting, she looked at her watch and abruptly told Stoehr she had to run because she had an appointment with her CPA. She was selling the company.
That evening, on their nightly walk together, Bill told Mary Kay what happened. She slugged him playfully and said, “What are we waiting for? Let’s buy it!”
A photo of artist William Stoehr and his wife Mary Kay among art books in the artist’s home studio in Boulder on Aug. 28. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
They owned Trails Illustrated for 10 years. Working with U.S. Geological Survey topographical quad maps, they painstakingly pieced together their own maps on light tables in the basement of their Evergreen home. They met with National Park Service personnel to add informational notes and features that hikers needed. They knew their audience, because they also were avid backpackers.
“We were able to go to USGS in Denver and say, ‘We’re doing a map of Denali National Park. What do you have?’ Mary Kay explained. “They would then reproduce for us photographic negatives. We would buy the base information – the topo lines, the blue which was water, the green which was wooded cover, another layer that was private property, another layer that was roads. Those negatives we would bring back, and on light tables, splice maps to together.”
First-year sales totaled $28,000. From there, they built up the Trails Illustrated inventory and enhanced its brand. In the late 1990s, National Geographic came calling, looking to expand beyond its membership base by entering the for-profit world with books, maps, television and movies.
“They needed somebody to do maps,” Mary Kay said. “They had like 50 cartographers, but nobody knew how to get maps into distribution, because up until that point, (National Geographic) only went to members. They wanted to get into bookstores, map stores, REI, everywhere.”
National Geographic rebranded Trails Illustrated’s look with the magazine’s yellow and black colors, and hired the Stoehrs to run it. Soon they named Bill president of National Geographic maps. Mary Kay left after five years, but Bill remained until he retired in 2004 to pursue the dream he’d had as a teenager: to become an artist.
Artist Bill Stoehr and his wife, Mary Kay, surrounded by his work in his home studio in Boulder on Aug. 28. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Becoming an activist artist
Stoehr (pronounced Stare) begins a painting by sketching the eyes, nose, lips and chin on a canvas held vertical on an easel. Then he tips the easel into a horizontal position. He brushes, pours, splashes and dribbles watered-down acrylic paint wherever his spirit moves him. Sometimes he spreads paint with a squeegee.
He also uses paper towels — what he calls his “secret sauce” — to dab and create intricate patterns. “I only use Bounty, because I like the pattern and I’m used to how it absorbs,” said Stoehr, 76. “That’s the first layer. Then I’ll put varnish on it, acrylic varnish. It dries in like 10 minutes. Then I’ll put down another layer and another layer.”
It’s not unlike the color separations that went into printing Trails Illustrated maps. That connection is not lost on Stoehr, although it didn’t occur to him until others pointed it out to him.
“A map is made in layers,” Stoehr said. “They print one color, then another and another — exactly how I paint.”
Over the years, his work has been in more than 120 exhibits and 30 one-person shows. They are part art appreciation, part education about substance-use disorders.
“It’s more than an art show,” Stoehr said. “What I say is, come for the art, stay for the message.”
It only took Stoehr 40 years to find his message and platform. He wanted to go to art school when he was 17 but couldn’t afford it. He became a full-time artist after retiring from Trails Illustrated at age 55 and got his first break from Michael Burnett, the owner of Space Gallery in Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe.
“I walked in with a roll of paintings, spread them out and said, ‘Just give me five minutes. If you want me to stay, I’ll stay. If you want me to go, I’ll go.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Well, I just had someone cancel out of a show and I need an artist.’ So he took me on.”
Burnett later gave him advice that proved pivotal.
“I said, ‘I’m having fun with the painting part of it, but it doesn’t have soul, and it’s not hanging together as a group (of paintings),’” Stoehr said. Burnett replied, “‘Why don’t you start doing big faces? You really do faces well.’ So I started doing big faces, and I haven’t looked back. Shortly thereafter, my sister died of an opioid overdose.”
From her tragic life and death came his mission.
“I was at a point of saying, ‘What good is your art? What are you accomplishing?’ ” Stoehr said. “Suddenly I could be an activist about stigma. I started painting what I called victims, witnesses and survivors. I didn’t consider myself a victim, and I wasn’t a survivor, but I was a witness to my sister. I was very involved in trying to get her into proper care for several years. The thing I could do as a witness was to work on the stigma, because the stigma keeps people from care.”
Artist William Stoehr works on a large portrait in his home studio in Boulder on Aug. 28. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
The tragic death of Emma
Stoehr’s sister got into drinking and drugs while growing up in small-town Wisconsin. She married a man with the same issues, so they became codependent alcoholics and drug users. After she developed back problems that resulted in two failed surgeries, she became addicted to prescription opioids. There were two failed attempts at rehab in residential treatment facilities.
On a last-ditch visit to Wisconsin, Stoehr begged her to go into rehab for the third time, telling her he wasn’t leaving until she agreed. She finally relented but when she called her doctor, who was home with his family on a Sunday, he told her to call back when he was in the office. Then he hung up on her.
“She threw the phone down, started crying, ran to her room and slammed the door,” Stoehr said.
Stoehr pleaded with her to come out. Then he remembered how much she loved his art and wanted him to paint her. He blurted out the words he would later put on one of her portraits, the one where her face is an all-black figure: “I promise to paint your portrait if you promise to go into rehab.”
The door opened and she agreed.
A portrait of Emma, the artist’s sister, by William Stoehr in his home studio in Boulder on Aug. 28. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
“She was good for five years,” Stoehr said. “She would be good today if she hadn’t had another back surgery and they gave her the opioids.”
She died in 2012. Her death was ruled accidental.
Driving up Boulder Canyon one day to go hiking with Mary Kay, Stoehr got a call on his cellphone from a man who had seen one of Emma’s portraits. He didn’t recognize the number, but took the call and put it on speaker.
“This guy said, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t think I’d get to you.’ He’s crying and he said, ‘My daughter’s name is Emma, she OD’d and died.’ I’m trying to drive, I’m crying, Mary’s crying. It’s brutal.”
Hydration-Focused Brand Cnoc Outdoors and Diorite Gear to Now Exist Under Newly Established Certified B-Corp Minimal Gear
PORTLAND, Ore., March 9, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– Diorite Gear, an outdoor equipment company that manufactures carbon fiber products including trekking poles, tent poles and tent stakes, is launching as its own distinct brand after previously being sold under Cnoc Outdoors, a hydration focused brand. Both operate under their parent company Minimal Gear, a Certified B Corporation.
Diorite Gear strongly values conservation and ‘leave no trace’ ethics in their design and is committed to reducing the environmental impact of their manufacturing process to create products consumers can feel good about taking on their next adventure, and for years of future adventures to come, as all products designed in their Portland facility are made with the right to repair in mind.
“Giving our poles their own platform and brand means that we can have the right expertise in the right place to make them better,” said Gilad Nachmani, Founder and GM of Minimal Gear. “We are currently the only domestically made trekking poles in the USA, and we hope to make sure as much of the process is re-shored. Much of the manufacturing process is viable in this economic environment and will hopefully lead to an increase in domestic manufacturing. Improving production means better innovation and the development of new products, leading to a better product and pushing the industry to make repairable and more sustainable products.”
A large part of Diorite Gear’s separation from Cnoc Outdoors was to give the brand more suitable research and development time, and focus more on the improved process of on-shoring materials. With environmental conservation at the forefront of the company’s ethos and product design, Diorite has plans to bring manufacturing of materials in-house to experiment with more sustainable alternatives in their design, like sourcing cork from an in-house recycling program to create trekking pole grips.
The brand also has plans to expand their current offering of EVA Trekking Poles and Cork Trekking Poles to include ultralight poles, adjustable length tent poles, modular grips, tripods and more.
ABOUT DIORITE GEAR:
Diorite Gear is an outdoor equipment company that manufactures carbon fiber products including trekking poles, tent poles, and tent stakes. Diorite values environmental conservation with a goal to be the last version of a product a consumer needs to buy, and designs all products to be repairable with replaceable parts. The name Diorite was inspired by an igneous rock with the same name that comprises large batholiths in both northeast and southwest Oregon – the brand’s home state. To learn more or purchase Diorite Gear products, visit www.dioritegear.com.
LONDON, December 8, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– PD EDC is hoping its new keychain navigational compass The Bugeye continues the company’s unbroken run of Kickstarter success stories. This time, the team has turned its considerable design skills on the humble pocket compass.
“Now that the world is open again and people are once again travelling and hitting the trails, we thought why not take another look at the traditional compass. We found that compasses haven’t changed much over the years, and there seemed to be only one style. Then we knew what we had to do,” said Andrew Lee, the product designer.
The Bugeye is the result of months of design work and the brief was to create a practical, capable, and functional compass that’s easy and fun to use.
Its base is made of durable Grade 5 titanium or solid brass, often referred to as timeless materials.
The result is a tool that is:
Shockproof
Waterproof
Sand-resistant
Impervious to extreme temperatures
The compass itself is known as a globe compass because its spherical dial floats in a glass bubble. This design is achieved using high-sensitivity encapsulation technology.
The clever design means that the compass can be read in two different ways, offering higher functionality over some traditional compasses.
Viewed from above, the top dial lets the user view the so-called “cardinal points” like North and South but when the compass is held at eye level, the user can use a second lower dial to discern the actual direction they are travelling.
The Bugeye is a quality piece of equipment that could, in an emergency, prove to be a lifesaver. It’s the perfect backup for GPS. Even if you have a handheld GPS unit, it’s always a great idea to have an old-school backup.
The Bugeye is ideal for adults:
Ramblers
Hill Walkers
Mountaineering
Search and Rescue
Star Gazing
Ornithologists
Adventurers
Explorers
Divers
Anyone living in GPS or Wi-Fi black spots
The Bugeye just launched on Kickstarter and savvy backers can grab one for the early-bird better-than-retail price at up to 35% off.
To find out more about the product, the project or the team behind the project, please check the live campaign on Kickstarter: http://kck.st/3P9FbjH.
I sure as shit did not! But since 2009 she has been posting photos online as TommyBoy, to a website cataloguing photos of abandoned spaces in locations as diverse as Japan, Alaska, Bali and Mexico. The site’s bio simply says
Hi! I’m Japansese urban explorer ‘Tommy’. I enjoy urban exploration all over the world.
But today publisher Read-Only Memory announced that TommyBoy was actually Nakamura, and did so because they’ve decided to release a book together, collecting some of her favourite photos in print for the first time ever. That book is called Project UrbEx, and it looks gorgeous.
Sounds good These headphones have stunning sound range and quality, up to 15 hours of playtime, can switch between two Bluetooth devices at a time, and look great.
Described as “a thrilling photographic adventure around an offbeat selection of the world’s abandoned buildings, captured by one of the videogame industry’s most beloved creatives”, it’s 256 pages of photos and diary excerpts by Nakamura, and is available in a number of different formats.
Famed videogame creator Ikumi Nakamura became widely known after she gave a speech about a “spooooky” game, Ghostwire: Tokyo, at the prestigious E3 conference. Her talent, infectious personality and strong sense of wonder for the world – “I think I haven’t changed much since I was a kid” – has attracted a global cult following. What many fans don’t know, however, is that Nakamura has a secret alter ego in the form of ‘TommyBoy’ – a fearless urban explorer.
For years Nakamura has been traversing the planet to go to under-the-radar abandoned buildings, from the Igloo Hotel in Alaska, a magnificent dome structure housing an intricate carousel-like wooden framework, to a mysterious liquor factory in Mexico with a giant replica bottle on its roof and the disused Blue Horizon Boxing Ring, where Rocky (1976) was filmed. Working in the gaming industry for nearly two decades, Nakamura has dreamt up many imagined worlds, but it’s these forgotten corners of the real world that truly fire her creative vision. Her photographic eye evokes the survival-horror feel of her own dystopian videogames.
With Google Maps at our fingertips, it can often feel impossible to get lost or discover anything novel, but through her daring escapades Nakamura taps into a lost spirit of true adventure. Hers is an enthusiastic brand of tour guiding, taking the reader to eye-opening spaces and atmospheres through exceptional photography and transporting – and sometimes amusing – stories.
Her pictures, gathered here in print for the first time, reveal that, from Japan and the United States, from Belgium to Taiwan, and from Spain to Bali, our planet is teeming with human-made structures lying derelict and undisturbed, waiting to be discovered by intrepid explorers.
Travel app’s user data tells us where the world’s most popular hiking trails are.
Press Release –
updated: Nov 7, 2022
TORONTO, November 7, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– The travel app Visited by Arriving In High Heels Corporation has published a list of the top 10 most popular hiking trails in the world based on user data.
Visited, available on iOS or Android, is a travel app with over 1.5 million users who mark off places they’ve been around the world. The app allows users to see custom maps of where they’ve visited, find new travel destinations, set travel goals, browse top 10 lists, and get custom printed travel maps.
The top 10 most visited hiking trails in the world include:
Grand Canyon, United States is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world and offers breathtaking natural beauty with expansive trails through ancient red rock canyons in Arizona.
The Great Wall of China attracts tourists from around the world to the ancient wall that is almost 3,000 years old.
Cinque Terre, Italy charms hikers with seaside views, Italian villages, vineyards, and harbors.
Inca Trail, Peru leads visitors up the lush Andes Mountains to the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu.
Trek to Petra, Jordan is a desert hike leading to the famed archaeological site of Petra, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Appalachian Trail, United States stretches along the East Coast of the U.S. from Maine to Georgia with trails through the scenic Appalachian Mountains.
Camino de Santiago, Spain is a network of picturesque pilgrimage routes stretching across Europe from Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.
The Narrows, United States offers majestic views hiking through Zion Canyon.
Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania is the highest mountain in Africa that features breathtaking natural views.
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica is a popular hike through lush landscapes of rainforests in Costa Rica.
To see the complete list of the most popular hiking trails and over 50 top ten lists of the most popular travel destinations in the world, download Visited on iOS or Android.
SALT LAKE CITY, June 21, 2021 (Newswire.com)
– Just like everyone else, the Kings Peak founders added a puppy to their family during the 2020 pandemic. Even before they got Ollie, backpacking was a big part of their lives, and they wanted their pup to be a part of that too. Taking dogs to the mountains is like taking kids to Disneyland, they obviously belong there. But they quickly found there was no easy way to accommodate Ollie sleeping at night without either making a mess of the gear or making him sleep outside. After contemplating a DIY solution, they decided that they should spend a lot more time and effort towards this project to make the perfect solution and see if others were interested in the same idea. So, they created the Kings Peak tent, which has a separate section in the tent for a dog. It features an interior removable mesh wall and a separate exterior doggy door.
If a dog is crate trained or love their personal space/area at night, they will thrive with this tent set-up. Ollie slept more than he ever has backpacking, which is important because dogs need their rest just as much as humans do. He was never anxious, because he could see that his owners were right next to him all night, and even his owners slept better knowing he was safe and comfortable in his own area. The well-known American Kennel Club said that “For thousands of years dogs have sought out small, enclosed spaces for shelter and security. Crating your dog can give him that feeling of safety, like he has his own room to go to.” The Kings Peak family stands behind this statement 100% and believes that this tent set-up will change how one backpacks with their dog, for both the owner and their dog.
For BBQ-loving Campers. Ultra-lightweight, Anti-bacterial, Anti-corrosion, Anti-rust. Great for Backpacking, Camping Trips, Hiking, and Bushcraft.
Press Release –
updated: Mar 2, 2021
LONDON, March 2, 2021 (Newswire.com)
– Following a successful Kickstarter campaign for the EATI | Anti-bacterial Titanium Utensil Multi-Tool, SEPTEM continues to focus on creating an ultra-light, incredibly durable camping necessity for backpackers, hikers, and all manner of outdoors people.
The SEPTEM titanium Grill & Hotplate is the lightest backpacking grill on the planet. It has been specifically designed to suit the needs of lightweight camping and bushcraft expeditions. It’s large enough to cook two steaks side-by-side but small enough to slide in your pack without taking up any valuable space. This is the perfect cooking unit for those looking to save on weight without compromising on quality. Every detail has been precisely engineered and constructed to ensure this grill will last you a lifetime.
Portable, Lightweight, and Convenient
Everyone loves BBQ and other grilled foods when they’re camping. But cleaning, moving, and storing your grill is always a challenge. Often, a typical grill’s bulky size and general lack of storage space are obstacles for outdoor lovers.
Half Hotplate – Half Grill
The original design of SEPTEM Grill & Hotplate is to make the two versatile cooking methods on such a small grill plate. Two ways to cook the food you love, wherever you are.
Made from Titanium – Anti-bacterial, Anti-corrosion, Anti-rust
When titanium is exposed to air, an ultra-thin layer of titanium atoms interacts with the oxygen to create a nano-coating of titanium dioxide (Titania). Titania-based nano-composites subjected to light are remarkably effective in repelling microbial growth. In simple terms? This makes food safer to eat, stay fresher, and taste better.
All Amazing Features
Lifetime Use
Easy to Clean
Ultra-lightweight
Fire-resistant
Anti-bacterial
Non-corrosive
Durable
The campaign has already surpassed its original funding goals, and there is still time for consumers to be a part of the SEPTEM community at an exclusive discount.
Visit SEPTEM on Kickstarter to learn more and get ready for your next adventure in the wilderness.
About SEPTEM Studio:
Specialist in design for real life, SEPTEM Studio is on a mission to create gadgets to save us time, hassle, and money. SEPTEM was established by a small London team who are passionate about bringing cool, sleek technology ideas to life, as well as striving to inspire others and foster an exploratory mindset. Their products include the world’s first titanium collapsible chopsticks.
Alaskan food startup moves into dedicated kitchen space in Anchorage.
Press Release –
updated: Dec 14, 2017
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, December 14, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– Heather’s Choice has announced the acquisition of a dedicated kitchen space that will allow the company to increase production capacity. For more than three years, this woman-owned Alaskan startup has been manufacturing dehydrated meals and snacks in shared kitchen spaces. This transition into their own dedicated kitchen will allow Heather’s Choice to produce more products and obtain the certifications needed to start wholesaling their product in cost-effective quantities to outdoor industry retailers.
“Having our own kitchen space is going to allow us to increase quality control and price control,” said Heather Kelly, founder of Heather’s Choice. “This will be the first time we can actually manufacture all of our products in house and have the flexibility to experiment with and release new products.”
Having our own kitchen space is going to allow us to increase quality control and price control. This will be the first time we can actually manufacture all of our products in house and have the flexibility to experiment with and release new products.
Heather Kelly, Founder of Heather’s Choice
Heather’s Choice will also be making moves to get their new kitchen space USDA inspected and FDA approved, which will allow the well-funded food startup to start manufacturing products for wholesale distribution to major retailers like REI and Cabelas. These certifications will also give Heather’s Choice the ability to start processing seafood in house, for meals like their best-selling Smoked Sockeye Salmon Chowder, and the option to incorporate beef, chicken, and pork into their entrees. Heather has also announced her intention to create a line of dehydrated vegetarian backpacking meals to add to the current adventure menu.
About Heather’s Choice:
Heather’s Choice® makes healthy and delicious dehydrated meals and snacks using high quality and sustainably sourced ingredients. Our products are meticulously crafted to be lightweight and nutrient dense to keep outdoor enthusiasts fueled on long expeditions without adding significant weight to their packs. Simply add boiling water and enjoy gourmet backcountry meals like Smoked Sockeye Salmon Chowder or Dark Chocolate Chili packed full of healthy calories. Contact us to obtain a product sample or to submit an interview or podcast request.
Anchorage, Alaska, July 19, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– Heather’s Choice and SteamDot Coffee Roasters are thrilled to announce their collaborative efforts occurring in Anchorage, Alaska. These two companies are now sharing space and product in what has become a mutually beneficial relationship. Jonathan White of SteamDot became Heather’s first business mentor back in 2014 as Heather’s Choice was just getting started. Jonathan was kind enough to allow Heather to rent commercial kitchen space at SteamDot Coffee Roasters in the evenings to manufacture the first Heather’s Choice dehydrated backpacking meals and snacks. “He was so incredibly supportive of me,” Heather recalled. “He would recommend business books for me to read and help me figure out everything involved with permitting.”
As SteamDot Coffee Roasters continued to expand, Jonathan purchased the old rock gym building off of Fairbanks Street in midtown Anchorage. This iconic new facility houses their roasting equipment, coffee cupping events, and more. The move into the old rock gym for SteamDot also coincided with a need at Heather’s Choice for additional commercial warehouse space. The two businesses decided to collaborate again and Heather’s Choice is now renting 500 square feet from SteamDot Coffee Roasters for Packaroon production and to house inventory.
As of 2017, SteamDot Coffee can now be enjoyed in two Heather’s Choice products; the Black Espresso Packaroons and the Cherry Cocoa Nib Breakfast. This collaboration is part of a continued effort at Heather’s Choice to use local, high-quality ingredients. SteamDot Coffee Roasters is also offering retail distribution of Heather’s Choice Packaroons at three of their cafe locations.
About Heather’s Choice:
Heather’s Choice® makes healthy and delicious dehydrated meals and snacks using high quality and sustainably sourced ingredients. Our products are meticulously crafted to be lightweight and nutrient dense to keep outdoor enthusiasts fueled on long expeditions without adding significant weight to their packs. Simply add boiling water and enjoy gourmet backcountry meals like Sockeye Salmon Chowder or Dark Chocolate Cherry Chili packed full of healthy calories. Contact us to obtain a product sample or to submit an interview or podcast request.
Larkspur, Colo., July 5, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– The Shapeshifter Sunhat has reached over 75 percent of its $35,000 goal in the first two weeks of a 60-day campaign, and shows no signs of slowing. Not a professional inventor, nor a savvy businessman, the Shapeshifter’s designer, C. Damien Henning, is an average Colorado outdoorsman and world traveler who wanted to share something useful with fellow adventurers. After spending 11 years and thousands of dollars developing the hat purely on his own, he has now garnered grassroots support that continues to grow.
The majority of highly successful Kickstarter campaigns are launched by established companies with pre-existing press contacts, substantial advertising/PR budgets, experienced teams that fashion campaign pages into professional-looking websites, thousands of dollars in pre-orders to boost “launch” donations, and a substantial established customer base.
“There has never been a sunhat like the Shapeshifter before. Necessity was certainly the mother of this invention. Trekking at high elevations while needing to protect my skin from the sun, and having a hat that I could beat up, sweat in, get rained on, stuff in my backpack, throw into a washer to clean and not bend in the wind. It didn’t exist. So, I had to make one.”
C. Damien Henning, Owner and Founder of “Roamin Republic LLC”
It’s hard for the Average Joe to compete with that. However, in the case of the Shapeshifter Sunhat, a Nobody coming from Nowhere (unemployed, living in Mom and Dad’s basement, driving the same car since 1995) began with nothing but an idea and determination, and has utilized crowdfunding to its keenest potential.
“The Shapeshifter Sunhat” had no pre-orders and zero PR exposure at the time of launch. All it had was Damien’s personal Facebook network composed of local friends, travel buddies, and work mates — from the frozen wasteland of Antarctica, to the tropics of the Marshall Islands — who put their trust in Damien and his abilities; his personal network helped spread the word from his parents’ basement up.
Noticing a Need
Through his love of the outdoors and adventure travel, Damien noticed that (with outdoor recreation growing in popularity all over the world), the threat of significant sun damage to our skin is as real as ever. However, the magnitude of this threat is often overlooked by many outdoor-loving consumers. No significant advancements have been made in recreational sun protection technology for years.
Via his new one man company “Roamin Republic LLC,” Damien was pleased to announce the pending release and Kickstarter launch of the latest revolutionary product in personal sun protection. “The Shapeshifter Sunhat.”
The Shapeshifter is a bendable, shape-able, crush-able, durable, super portable, machine washable, waterproof, extra wind resistant, wide-brimmed sunhat.
Although sun hats already exist in the market, they are not fully adequate. Wide-brimmed hats that have softer brims lose their shape very quickly and blow into or out of the face in the wind. Also, using them for facial rain protection results in the soft brim buckling, and more often than not, warping the hat’s shape for good.
Stiff, rigid sunhats (such as those utilized by many outdoor workers) are great in the wind, but are heavy and impossible to collapse for easy storage and transport.
If the brim has a thin cable support, it’s similarly not compactable, and is still pretty useless in the wind.
A Better Solution
Damien searched for and finally discovered the best way to get a strong, bendable, shape-able, resilient and waterproof cable into the brim of a high-quality sunhat.
He calls it “The Shapeshifter.”
With the unique cable in place, the Shapeshifter can do what no other sunhat can:
⦁ The brim will not fold or flop in a head wind up to 65 mph. ⦁ The brim will not buckle under heavy rain, keeping drops from smacking the face. ⦁ The back can be bent up and fine tuned to give clearance while hiking with a backpack or while playing sports. ⦁ It can be folded to increase its compactness and portability, and can be put into small bags or larger pockets. ⦁ It can be bent and shaped into an unlimited amount of styles, and hold that shape indefinitely.
In addition, the Shapeshifter also includes other features that many consumers will find useful:
⦁ A neck cape that folds up into a pocket and deploys at the user’s convenience (this pocket can also be useful for hiding cash and credit cards) ⦁ A zip-off crown that can allow hair to be unconstricted (this is a useful feature for those with thick hair or those who prefer the free feeling of a visor to a hat) ⦁ An adjustable cord to fine-tune the size to the wearer’s exact needs ⦁ A locking chinstrap that secures the hat firmly to the wearer’s head (what’s the point in having a super wind-resistant sunhat if the hat won’t stay on in heavy wind?) ⦁ Side mesh for ventilation ⦁ A moisture-wicking sweatband stitched into the crown that won’t flop out
This is a unique Kickstarter project in the “Product Design” category, considering the forum is dominated by high-tech items from larger companies with greater backing. Relatively few outdoor items have had the success or exposure that the basement-begotten Shapeshifter Sunhat promises to have.
For more information, please visit “Shapeshifter Sunhat’s” live Kickstarter campaign.
Anchorage, Alaska, June 20, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– CB Insights recently named Heather’s Choice the “Most Well-Funded Food Startup in Alaska” after gaining several large investments over the past year. Heather’s Choice is a dehydrated backpacking foods company based out of Anchorage, Alaska focused on creating healthy, high-quality backcountry meals. The young startup experienced a surge of interested investors after enjoying more than 500 percent growth in 2016. Heather’s Choice is using their newly found gains to increase production and add essential new team members.
Heather Kelly, an avid outdoorswoman and certified nutritionist, started Heather’s Choice in 2014 to satisfy a need for healthy dehydrated backcountry meals and snacks. In fall of 2015, Heather’s Choice ran a successful Kickstarter campaign and raised enough funds to design and print new custom packaging and purchase a commercial dehydrator.
In April of 2016 Heather’s Choice was invited to join the Launch Alaska Accelerator Program, a group of local investors dedicated to helping Alaska startups become scalable businesses with monetary investments and mentorship. After completing the Launch Alaska program, Heather’s Choice was approached by the Alaska Accelerators Fund. Their investment allowed Heather’s Choice to hire several new staff members, open a retail location in Anchorage, and obtain office space and warehouse space for inventory and shipping. A recent grant from the Alaska Seed Fund is also helping Heather’s Choice expand their product line to include more backcountry snacks.
About Heather’s Choice: Heather’s Choice crafts healthy and delicious dehydrated backcountry meals and snacks using high quality and sustainably sourced ingredients. Our products are meticulously crafted to be lightweight and nutrient-dense to keep outdoor enthusiasts fueled on long expeditions without adding significant weight to their packs. Simply add boiling water and enjoy gourmet backcountry meals like Sockeye Salmon Chowder or Dark Chocolate Cherry Chili packed full of healthy calories. Contact us to obtain a product sample or to submit an interview or podcast request.
An inspired designer introduces her newest product for outdoor enthusiasts via the ‘HARDWIN – Instant Fishing Tent’ project on Indiegogo. The team is crowdfunding to raise the funds needed to bring the HARDWIN Fishing Tent to market.
Xiamen, China, October 19, 2016 (Newswire.com)
– Jingjing Lu, the founder of China based start-up HARDWIN, has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. This campaign has a funding goal of $20,000, which needs to be raised in order to bring their flagship product, the HARDWIN Fishing Tent, to market. The HARDWIN Fishing Tent was created for outdoor enthusiasts everywhere, and is designed to be both simple and convenient, with a one touch lift-up system for quick and easy set up. The HARDWIN Fishing Tent promises to make all outdoor activities more relaxing and enjoyable. It was designed to bring the comfort of indoors to the beautiful serenity of outdoors, so nature lovers no longer need to skip that fishing trip because of the weather.
The HARDWIN Fishing Tent comes in 2 sizes: single or duo, and is both wind and water resistant. It is made with lightweight, but sturdy aluminum poles, and oxford cloth with a polyurethane coating for increased wind and water resistance. The tent features a simple locking mechanism to hold it in place after the quick and easy set-up, and has adjustable leg-poles for use on uneven terrain, which means a user will no longer have to look for a flat area to set up the tent. The tent offers 4 different shapes for added convenience and comfort: all flaps open for improved air circulation throughout the tent, only the front flap open, a top sheet for extra protection against the rain and sun, or attach the flysheet for ultimate protection against wind and rain. It is currently only available in standard jungle green, but the team plans to introduce extra color options if enough funding is raised with their campaign.
“Do you ever enjoy a Sunday fishing trip? It is a fascinating life experience, especially taking a finishing tent like this with you.”
Jingjing Lu, Founder of HARDWIN
The team at HARDWIN has been working very diligently on all of the essential groundwork for their Instant Fishing Tent. They are now ready to begin the process of bringing the tent to market which is why they have launched their Indiegogo campaign, and hired a team of crowdfunding specialists to help them spread the word. All supporters of this campaign have the opportunity to pre-order the tent at a substantial savings off of regular retail pricing. The HARDWIN Fishing Tent can be pre-ordered in either size, with an expected delivery date of December 2016. Full details can be found on their Indiegogo campaign page.
HARDWIN was founded by Jingjing Lu and is based in Xiamen, China. The team consist of a large group of outdoor fans, designers, engineers, and liberal artists. They work together to design and create innovative new products for outdoor use, as well as innovative design elements for home decorations.
To learn more about the HARDWIN Fishing Tent crowdfunding project Click Here
To contact via email write to Jingjing Lu at: ljwdada@163.com
To learn more about the team of specialists at Smart Crowdfunding Click Here
